Lotus Wonders: Working to Support Malala's Message, "One Village at a Time".
TORONTO, July 16, 2013 /CNW/ - Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban, addressed the United Nations on Friday, inspiring the world with her words and courage.
"Malala day is not my day. Today it is the day of every woman, every boy and every girl who have raised their voice for their rights," she said on her 16th birthday. "One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world. Education is the only solution. Education first," she insisted.
Her message particularly resonated with Mehrak Mehrvar, an International gender & governance specialist who has worked with the United Nations and other agencies in Afghanistan, Cambodia, Lebanon, UAE, Iran and Indonesia. Ms. Mehrvar believes that change can happen with women "one village at a time".
Based in Toronto, Ms. Mehrvar recently founded Lotus Wonders, a for-profit social initiative to create a sustainable living for displaced women, so that they can send their daughters to school.
"Poverty can be as extreme a situation as the Taliban in forcing poor families to send their children to work instead of school. Sixty-six million girls around the world are not in school. Of that, 39 million are between the ages of 11 and 15 and the main culprit is poverty," observed Ms. Mehrvar.
Lotus Wonders is inspired and committed to creating a sustainable livelihood for women in the developing world, hiring and training women to create eye-popping accessories while paying above fair-trade wages. Lotus Wonders also contributes an additional 20 percent of the value of their wages to the Wonder Fund, a community resource that will give employees the opportunity to invest in local projects that they deem most important, such as building a school. To start, Lotus Wonders is hiring 21 women in one village in Cambodia to create stylish iPad and card cases in a variety of vibrant colours.
"We applaud Malala for bringing the issue of girls' and women's rights to education to the forefront. At Lotus Wonders, we fully support this basic right, and look forward to doing it one village at a time with our social enterprise", said Ms. Mehrvar.
Lotus Wonders' first products have just hit the market, with beautiful patterned iPad and card cases for the socially conscious shopper, available on Indiegogo.
SOURCE: Lotus Wonders
check out http://igg.me/at/lotus-wonders.
To schedule an interview with Mehrak Mehrvar, please email:
[email protected] or call 647-965-9269
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